Flight compensation guides
These flight compensation guides explain in plain language what a delay, a cancellation or a denied boarding is worth, and how to claim it under EU261 and UK261. They also cover refunds and vouchers. Each guide answers one question passengers ask, rests on the regulation and the judgments, and names both.
- EU law & rulingsIsrael travel agency refund fee banned, October 2026Israel's Supreme Court has ruled that a travel agency may not keep a handling fee out of the refund for a cancelled flight. The judgment applies now, and it leaves EU261 and UK261 compensation untouched.6 October 2026 · 5 min read
EU law & rulingsEU261 vs UK261 Compensation, Canada and Israel ComparedThe four delay-compensation regimes we claim under, side by side: what length of delay triggers a payment, whether distance changes the amount, and the exact euro and sterling figures under EU261 and UK261.23 September 2026 · 5 min read
EU law & rulingsFlight compensation vs travel insuranceThey are separate things and you can often claim both. What the regulation pays without receipts, what a policy pays against them, and the notification window that catches people out.8 September 2026 · 4 min read
What do these flight compensation guides cover?
Every guide here answers one question a passenger actually asks, in the words they ask it. What is a three-hour delay worth. Whether a refund cancels the compensation. Why an airline calls a broken part an extraordinary circumstance, and why a court disagreed. We write them from the regulation and the judgments that interpret it, and we name both at the end of each one.
Nothing here is generated from a template. Where a rule is genuinely unsettled we say so rather than round it off into a confident sentence.
Start from what happened to you, and pick the guide that matches it:
| What happened | Guide to read first |
|---|---|
| Your flight landed late | Flight delay compensation |
| Your flight never operated | Flight cancellation compensation |
| You were turned away at the gate with a valid ticket | Denied boarding compensation |
| The airline has already said no | EU261 case law summary |
Do the EU261 guides also cover UK261 and flights beyond Europe?
Most of the library sits on Regulation 261/2004, which covers flights leaving any EU airport and flights arriving in the EU on a European airline. The UK261 guide covers the British copy of it, in pounds.
Outside that, the Montreal Convention governs baggage and provable losses worldwide, and separate guides cover Israel and Canada. The glossary defines the terms all of them share.
How do you get from an article to a claim?
Reading is not the goal. Each guide ends at the same place: a flight number, a date, and a check that reads the record. If you already know what happened, skip the library and use the flight check now.
If an airline has already said no, the case law summary is the article to read. It sets out what the courts have decided about the excuses airlines use most.
What do readers ask about these air passenger rights articles?
Which guide should I read first?
Start from what happened to you. If your flight landed late, read the delay guide. If it never operated, read the cancellation guide. If you were turned away at the gate with a valid ticket, read the denied boarding guide. Each one ends where the claim begins.
Are these guides written for the EU or the UK?
Both, and they say which is which. EU261 and UK261 carry the same structure and different currencies, so a guide covers the rule once and notes where the British version diverges. Flights to and from Israel and Canada have their own guides.
How current is the law in these guides?
Each guide names the regulation and the judgments it rests on, and carries the date it was last reviewed. Passenger-rights law moves through court rulings more than through new statutes, so we revisit the guides when the Court of Justice decides something that changes an answer.
Do I need to read a guide before claiming?
No. The flight check reads your flight's record and tells you where you stand without any reading at all. The guides are for the questions that come after: why an airline refused, what an excuse is worth, and whether it is worth pushing back.
Sources
- Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 — the regulation itself, in every EU language
- UK Civil Aviation Authority — passenger rights — the UK regulator's own guidance and complaint route